SCOTTSDALE — Great penmanship has become obsolete. Blame sportswriters. My hand-writing looks like a combination of chicken scratch and spilled ink. Autographs from athletes have followed suit. Many are unreadable. My sons go to a handful of games at Coors Field and in spring training each year, and collect a few. They are along the baselines hoping to get a signature on a rookie card (So Guy with eight books, two posters and a bat that looks like a desk leg from the Titanic, move over and make room for kids).

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[media-credit id=149 align=”alignright” width=”240″][/media-credit] Rockies outfielder Michael Cuddyer changed how he signed his autograph after a scolding from Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew.

Back to the signatures. Carlos Gonzalez’s autograph is essentially three Os linked together.

“I used to write it neat until I started signing so many,” Gonzalez said.

Rockies outfielder Michael Cuddyer had a similar story. Then one day he did a signing with Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew. Cuddyer’s been signing his name beautifully ever since, sharing the story in the video. He puts so much time and effort into signing with a pen that Thursday he stopped because his hand cramped. Cuddyer doesn’t even bother putting his number after his name because it’s not necessary to identify it (which is not the case with most autographs). Infielder Jordan Pacheco has taken his cue from Cuddyer. His signature looks like it belongs on a legal document as well.